A variety of patrol, surveillance and operative missions are carried by unmanned platforms, some of which being completely automated. Examples of such instances where an unmanned operative mission is to be executed are border patrol, e.g. between nations or of various facilities such as farms, airports, sensitive zones (e.g. military or governmental institutes and facilities, power and nuclear plants, etc.), patrol along railroads and highways, conveying systems (oil pipelines, water ducts, etc.) and the like.
It has been known to use unmanned systems, such as that disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,339,448 directed to an unmanned visual monitoring system used outdoors to patrol large expanses of space such as along highways, fences, railroad lines, rivers, borders, beaches, etc. where guidance and support for the unmanned surveillance camera carriage vehicle, as well as the electrical power for its operation, are provided to the carriage and camera by conductive track cables. At a remote control center location from the carriage, an operator can control the movement of the vehicle and the operation of the video camera.
Another monitoring arrangement is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,786,750 directed to a self-propelled remotely controlled pilot vehicle adapted for use on railroad tracks to monitor hazardous conditions and obstacles on the railroad tracks. The pilot vehicle is equipped with a sensor array which measures a variety of different parameters and with a television camera which provides a visual image of the railroad track ahead of the pilot vehicle to a train engineer. Information gathered by the pilot vehicle sensor array is supplied to a computer on board the pilot vehicle and is also transmitted to the train to enable the engineer to be apprised of conditions existing on tracks ahead of the train in order to have time to react to dangerous situations on the railroad tracks.
Whilst the above U.S. patents are directed to surveillance and monitoring of various conditions, it has also been known to use unmanned vehicles and platforms for carrying out different missions without risking the lives of humans. Examples of unmanned command platforms used for carrying out operative tasks are an unmanned aircraft suitable for carrying out a variety of missions such as scouting over hostile territories, bombing, carrying various payloads, guiding missiles, etc. Still another example is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,359,834 directed to a mine neutralization device (MND) deployed from a launch platform, such as aircraft or a surface craft, and travels under water to destroy a mine. Command signals are coupled to the MND through suitable communication lines to control the MND on its way to the mine. The MND is provided with vision and sonar systems to provide optical and acoustic data signals to the launch platform where command signals are transmitted to the MND for detonating explosive aboard the MND to destroy the mine.
An unmanned vehicle designed to execute a mission may be remotely controlled by a remote command control center, e.g. as described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,359,834. Alternatively, or in combination, the unmanned vehicle may be controlled and operated by a decision making system (expert system such as fuzzy-logic, etc.) as disclosed, for example in U.S. Pat. No. 5,832,187 or 6,122,572, the latter directed to a vehicle designed for execution of a mission and a programmable decision unit capable of making and controlling the execution of the mission whereby controlling the execution of the mission is carried out in an autonomous fashion such that the vehicle becomes an autonomous vehicle.
In many cases the response time in which the tactical platform reaches an arena in which it is to execute a mission is of significance and even may be critical in some hazardous conditions.
Thus, it is a primary object of the present invention to provide an unmanned tactical platform (UTP) designed to reach an arena at significantly high speed and in a short time, for execution of one or more missions at the arena.